We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

" Anti-Israel Curricula Used in World History Courses Across the Country" That doesn't surprise me because there are numerous accounts of school districts teaching how wonderful Islam is and having the students learn very detailed prayers and things that do not belong in the schools. Never are they shown the terrorist activities of "peaceful Islam". They sure wouldn't allow Christianity to be taught that way so not surprising they teach a biased lesson plan against Israel either. Just like re-writing American history.

Yesterday radio report that the CBO said if the ACA subsidies were stopped it would raise the deficit by something like 95 million (Billion?) in 10 years.
I must be missing something. How does government Not spending money today equate to a higher cost down the road? Unless they were looking at it that people who don't get subsidized insurance today are going to cost Medicaid tomorrow?

Subsidizing health insurance cannot ever get us to universal coverage[/i[

Health insurance is not health care. If people who need health care are not getting it, let's provide it to them without the middle man. Insisting on using insurance to alleviate this problem is nothing more than UM/UMC people seeking to avoid paying for something they would rather not have to pay for, aided by rent seeking insurance companies.

[i]Study Finds 3.5 Million Ghost Voters in US – More Than the Entire Population of 21 States

No wonder the Democrats have been insisting that other people voting in your name never happens - they have more than enough fake voters to swing any close election.

]Study Finds 3.5 Million Ghost Voters in US – More Than the Entire Population of 21 States

The headline misleads by referring to voters, but the text refers to voter registrations.

This can happen when someone dies, or moves out of state, and never taken off the voter rolls. Even a move within the state can result in multiple registrations. Over time, this results in an accumulation of a large number of spurious registrations.

In many cases Democrats have stymied efforts to purge voting rolls saying they are racist. Of course, if you know there are extra registrations on the rolls, that allows one to vote under those registrations and nobody would know because in most places, there aren't ID requirements. And indeed, there are some localities where there were more voters than citizens.

I remember that there were some counties in Pennsylvania where there were more cast votes than the voting age population.

Having instances of more votes than the voting age population is just the most undeniable and egregious example of voter fraud, but it doesn't mean that people didn't vote more than once where the rolls were not purged of the superfluous registrants. And if you purposely hinder purging voter rolls, you are setting up the likelihood of one type of voter fraud.

Sam L: Which ought to be reviewed, caught, and eliminated...but somehow, don't.

Which is a problem in both Red and Blue states. Part of the problem is federalism. In order to protect privacy, states often don't share information. But general government inefficiency and lack of investment is the major problem.

In any case, we know that most of the spurious registrations aren't used for voting, as voting turnout rarely surpasses 60%.

She had to reach pretty far in the Viking story. Of course, the only graves left for archaeologists to uncover are those of wealthy Vikings. Her 'proof" isn't that they were clean and neat but that some wealthy Vikings were. More fake news.

This is not a brand new idea and it is relative. I'm not going to look it up but, if memory serves, I believe that the Anglo Saxon chronicles made the same "complaint". The Danes were getting all the girls by combing their hair and wearing clean underwear.

Allen West: Ok folks, here’s what REALLY happened in Charlottesville – and what everyone is missing ... But, how did we get to this place?

This all began because someone decided, as other elected officials have across the country, to cave in to partisan political pressures

Legal efforts to remove a statue does not justify Nazism, white supremacy, or running a car into a crowd of people.

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and seek to erase American history... The statues of long since deceased leaders of the Confederate Army do not stand to remind anyone of oppression.

The statue was erected at the height of Jim Crow and the KKK. Taking the statue down doesn't erase history, but honors it.

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It would appear that said group who didn’t wish to see the statue of Virginian, General Robert E. Lee, who was a commissioned U.S. Army officer, graduate of West Point, and served the nation in the Mexican War, taken down

The statue wasn't erected to commemorate Lee's service in the Mexican War, but as part of a rebellion to preserve slavery, and as a symbol of Jim Crow.

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did apply for a permit to hold a rally.

Even Nazis and white supremacists have the right to free speech. However, people have just as much right to speak out against them.

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I find it rather odd that so many are seeking to lay blame on President Trump for what happened in Charlottesville.

Trump has, on multiple occasions, invoked racism. However, if he had made even a reasonable statement condemning the white supremacists and people marching with Nazi flags, it would have gone a long way to quell the anger. Instead, he argues that those who march under a Nazi flag and those who oppose Nazis are on the same moral plane.

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But, when there’s an Islamic terror attack people say, “we cannot rush to judgment” or “this is not indicative of all Muslims”…to wit I agree

And we agree. What Muslims can and have done is condemn terrorist attacks. What Republicans can and have largely failed to do is condemn the rise of white supremacists in their midst.

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Fareed Zakaria praised the Central Park play depicting the “Caesar-like” stabbing to death of President Trump

Add Shakespeare's Julius Caesar to the things West doesn't understand.

Z: ... What Republicans can and have largely failed to do is condemn the rise of white supremacists in their midst.

This is more than silly. There was violence on all sides in Charlottesville. The Charlottesville demonstration was not related to Trump or his policies. Trump denounced it all. I haven't heard a single Democrat denounce the violence from the Antifa and BLM factions at Charlottesville.

So who was the organizer of the "white supremacists" in Charlottesville? Why he was a participant in the Occupy movement and an Obama supporter.

Democrats continue to lie about their history on their website (https://www.democrats.org/about/our-history). When there is violence from the left (the vast majority of it is from the left), there is no denunciation of it at all from Democrat leaders (e.g. Chicago riots at Trump rally, Antifa riots, riots when conservatives attempt to speak such as at Berkeley, etc.). But then, I'm not really being fair including the Chicago riots since they were bought and paid for by the Hillary Campaign. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the organizer of those riots was invited to the White House over a hundred times. So Democrats were being honest in not decrying that violence.

Or how about Maxine Waters cheering on the riots in South Central LA and said it was "in ways understandable." Remember the denunciations from fellow Democrats about that?

Then Keith Ellison, who at one time espoused black nationalism, was almost elected head of the DNC. Has anybody on the Pubbie side espoused white nationalism?

Do Democrats decry the violence against cops by the rhetoric of Black Lives Matter. In fact, they allow themselves to be pushed around by them when they try to say publicly that all lives matter.

When Democrats do denounce violence, as in the case of the shooting in Alexandria, eventually, they get around to blaming "the rhetoric from the right" and some prominent Democrats even blame Scalise for his being shot. I'm not aware of any Democrats disavowing those hateful comments. Nor am I aware of anybody in the media calling for denouncing of those hateful comments.

You apparently missed the part of my post when I explained that the "white supremacist" side was organized by a man who participated in the Occupy movement and was a Obama supporter. Maybe you missed the part where I explained how Democrats are on record as paying for people to incite violence at Trump rallies. But what I didn't explain is that if you look at the Nazi and Confederate flags, you will see they have sharp regular creases indicating they were just recently unpackaged and likely supplied to the rioters. So excuse me for suspecting this whole thing was a conflict that was bought and paid for.

But maybe I'm wrong so for the sake of argument, let's assume that those people were real Nazis and white supremacists (what self respecting Nazi wouldn't have his own flag to bring to a Nazi rally - sorry, I couldn't help it). What is there to say about the BLM and Antifa people at Charlottesville? Are you saying that because one side was racist against blacks that the BLM folks who are segregationists (at best) and certainly not strangers to violence that their violence doesn't deserve denouncement? Are you saying that the fascist Antifa groups who go around trashing private and public property to shut down the speech of people with whom they disagree don't deserve being denounced?

Just because one side is made up of dirt bags doesn't mean the other side isn't also made up of dirt bags. But a leftist dirt bag somehow is violent for a good purpose, right?

Antifa is the communist party, they go back to the 1920's. Everyone thinks the communist party disappeared with the USSR. Guess again. You also see other communist allies like the www.worldworkers.org banners carried in the antifa "parades" to include Charlottesville. They lost out on trying to make class struggle the issue so are now trying to promote race struggle as the new improved issue. Same commies with the same attitudes...kill the kulaks.

What evidence do you have that they were anti-fascists? The name? Antifa do nothing but shout down other people's speech and destroy private and public property. They are fascists. As for BLM, they have dis-invited whites from functions and when a person tries to say that all lives matter, they are shouted down with black lives matter - so they apparently value black lives over others.

On the one side you have people walking around with Nazi flags, chanting "Jews will not replace us". On the other side, you have multi-ethnic counterprotesters chanting "No Fascist U.S.A." Figure it out.

What is amazing to me is that the ACLU actually rode to the rescue of the organizers of the rally in order to get these white supremascists the required permits . Secondly you continue to talk about the chanting against Jews, does anyone find it suspect that there appears to have not been any chanting about blacks. Mudbug, in my opinion is correct in his questioning of an inside job. Curiosier and curiosier!

Instead of idealizing assassination as a political instrument, Julius Caesar shows how it leads to the destruction of the Republican goals of the assassins. The bloodiness of the murder and the unleashing of the mob are crucial for this message.

I would add that Julius Caesar was a sympathetic character in the play. So, in other words, you're saying that the leftist producer and the leftists (like Zakaria) who applauded the play where "Trump" was assassinated didn't understand the play either?

Sorry, we missed your questions previously. Our claims are based on contemporaneous reporting, including video, photos, and interviews with members of the alt-right, who were more than happy to share information about their weapons.

How many is "nearly everyone was armed on the alt-right"?
How many is the "majority" of those opposing?
How many of the "minority" of leftists thugs were armed?
Do you have a count?
What was the other side (leftists) advocating?

The claims were qualitative, however, they are justified by the evidence. One of the fundamental characteristics of Nazism is that violence is the ultimate expression of racial identity. If you are really interested, you might start with the VICE documentary.

No. If you had read more carefully, you would remember that we said, "If you are really interested, you might start with the VICE documentary." There were numerous other reporters at the event, as well.

We have provided some evidence, and pointed to other evidence. You have refused to engage with that evidence. You might have, for instance, argued that the interviews are not representative. At which point, we could point to additional evidence. But unless and until you are willing to engage on the evidence, not sure how else to help you.

"Speaking out against them" is one thing, showing up with shields, baseball bats, and sticks is another.

I have zero problems with taking down a statue, but do it in the right way. Show up at a city council meeting, make your displeasure known, start a campaign to remove.

Showing up with a rope and a ladder and yanking down a statue is wrong and should be punished.

Zachriel, you must acknowledge that Antifa violence is no better than KKK violence. Both were on display on Saturday. KKK is not responsible for Antifa showing up with weapons. Period.

You can hate the speech, but you are NOT allowed to attack people exercising their 1st amendment rights. Just NO NO NO. And trying to pretend the left was not there to attack is disingenuous. They showed up with WEAPONS.

"The statue was erected at the height of Jim Crow and the KKK. Taking the statue down doesn't erase history, but honors it."

That is histrionics not history; you can't "honour" history, only acknowledge it.

Robert E. Lee was the rather capable commanding general of the Army of Northern Virginia, a formation of the Confederate States Army of the Confederate States of America, itself a secessionist slave state that failed in its attempt to break away from the United States (also at that time a slave state).

That's the history.

Everything else the two gruesome mobs of wingnuts and moonbats on the fringes of the political spectrum screamed at each other in Charlottesville is histrionics.

The entire Charlottesville riot is Communists versus National Socialists like Germany in the 1930s. Charlottesville was chosen by Soros Groups because Thomas Jefferson is the next target for removal by these Communists.

For about ten years now I have watched with a broken heart as the journalism schools in our major universities have relinquished the "ideal of clean journalism". There is a clear path of the dominoes (universities) falling. The action only took about 4 years from when it began at the U of Washington and was completed at the minor state universities. The big tumble was when the University of California/Berkeley had it's journalism curriculum "revamped". I will try to find the whole story for you later, but for now take a look at text

He was in place when the decision was made to destroy good investigative journalism. Please read all the way to the bottom so you can get the full picture. Here is the link again.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orville_Schell

Schell has all the credentials that a typical CNN/MSNBC journalist would have. And his lefty comment that Mao was "transubstantiated" into his people was a real side splitter. He's just another knockoff of the old Frankfurt school migration.

commenter Subotai Bahudar at BC has the best summary of events I have seen.

He wrote

QUOTE:

1) The original protest by "Unite the Right" was based about the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee. Which in itself was incredibly stupid, but these are Leftists we are dealing with. Lee spent his life after the war trying to build a reconciliation between North and South, and it was his direct command forbidding it that prevented up to 1/3 of the Army of Northern Virginia from fading into the civilian population and fighting what would have been an incredibly bloody guerilla war that could have lasted for decades.

2) Now we have to be curious about the accuracy of the flags flying. The leader of the protest was one Jason Kessler. Kessler has an interesting background. Until late 2016 Kessler was active with OCCUPY, Obama's OFA, and was a reporter for CNN. Not exactly a conservative background.

3) "Unite the Right" sought a permit for a peaceful demonstration. This was opposed by Virginia Governor McAuliffe and the mayor of Charlottesville [name slips my mind and I don't want to stop and look it up right now]. They denied it functionally because it was those "icky" conservatives and the Constitution does not apply to them. A Federal District Court had a different view, and ordered the permit to be issued and appropriate precautions taken.

4) Now, while Kessler was quite likely a false flag, there were a lot of other people there. Certainly some were Nazi's. Some claimed to be KKK, which is interesting because most of the membership of the KKK seems to be FBI informants. I won't go into whether their presence is an assignment, or a choice. But a lot of people there were just people tired of the Left. It is important to note that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights apply to everyone, even Nazi's and the KKK.

5) When the demonstration started, keeping in mind that the "Unite the Right" group was the only one with a permit and it was confirmed by a Federal Judge, there were both local and State police, and reinforcements from surrounding communities. And they were issued orders by both the Governor and the Mayor that under no circumstances were they to intervene in any violence without direct orders from the Governor and the Mayor. This has been denied by the State Police and Charlottesville police, but confirmed by the reinforcements from surrounding communities, and surprisingly by the Virginia ACLU which was there and who remembered amazingly enough what their organization is theoretically for. It is an anomaly for the ACLU to criticize anything done by Democrats.

6) Shortly after the demonstration began, buses pulled up and hundreds of Antifa, BLM, and assorted other of the Democrat street thugs disembarked, masked and armed. I note that under § 18.2-422 of Virginia law, wearing of masks in public is a Class 6 felony. It is part of their laws against, ironically, the KKK. They began attacking the "Unite the Right" while the police watched people being beaten. Also, the attackers used tear gas spray. It was not, of course, one-sided. But it could have been worse because a number of the "Unite the Right" demonstrators were armed and not one shot was fired. The official Virginia State Police excuse later was that they were afraid to intervene because the "Unite the Right" was armed. I would note in passing that I spent 28 years wearing a badge, and that while special tactics might be needed, only in a Democrat controlled area could I conceive of police ignoring public violence because of fear of armed rioters.

7) At 1152 hrs. local time, Governor McAuliffe declared a state of emergency and ordered the "Unite the Right" out. It is critical to keep in mind that they had a permit, backed by a Federal Judge, had been attacked, and their attackers had no permit and their very presence was a mass felony being deliberately ignored by the police. And the "Unite the Right" left, albeit a fighting withdrawal. The park where the demonstration was to take place was cleared by police by 1230 hrs.

8) After "Unite the Right" had left, the Democrat thugs began a celebratory riot over having "chased" the "Unite the Right" from the park. That riot included attacking the police, who were restrained in their response, with only a few people being arrested.

9) At 1340 hrs. the car driven by James Alex Fields Jr. apparently deliberately drove into a crowd of the Democrat thugs. I say apparently, because there are several versions out there, some of which say he was being attacked by rioters. I do not know and that is a matter for the courts. There was some confusion about who owned/was driving the vehicle. The license plate led to documents showing that it was purchased by James Alex Fields Sr. Apparently, it was given to James Alex Fields Jr. It seems Senior is a Leftist on social media. Junior is closer to Nazi. Which must make holiday dinners a joy and a wonder. But that led to confusion as to motivation, but it was Junior driving. One woman was killed, several other people seriously injured. Junior was charged with Second Degree Murder, which is not a death penalty offense. Although Virginia may make an exception in this case. Plus a lot of lesser charges for those injured

10) What is of note in this case is that once again it seems that Democrat controlled governments have conspired to violate or ignore the law in order to attack anyone who is not a Leftist. And given Kessler's background, the whole thing may have been a deliberate set-up between Democrat government officials and Democrat street thugs.

11) Anyone who is not a Leftist has to learn from this and the past year that the Left will violate the law, even if in government, to attack them. And that the Republicans will side with them. There is going to be a Federal investigation, but it is going to be of the "Unite the Right" and not the thugs that broke the law to deny them their First Amendment rights. Attorney General Sessions is apparently hell on civil forfeiture of property without a conviction of a crime, but cannot spare any effort to investigate Democrat crimes at any level or any violent and illegal attacks on what is President Trump's voter base. There is a lesson here. You cannot depend on the law, because it will be used against conservatives only.

12) Leftist thugs re-learned a lesson. They are above the law. They can do anything with impunity and will be protected by both parties in government.

13) Toss into that mix that we have learned since the election that an election can deliver the House, the Senate, and the Presidency into the hands of Republicans, and the Republicans in the House and Senate will devote themselves to protecting Democrat programs and how Democrats run the government. If voting does not change government policies, electoral politics becomes a waste of time.

"Viking Fashion: Men And Women Were Vain And Very Clean During The Viking Age" After viewing the collection of Viking articles in the museum in Dublin Ireland my opinion of them changed. Where they dirty? I don't know, but seeing the articles they made such as the combs in the article would indicate they tried in their appearance. There were numerous tiny articles that they had made such as game pieces which they seemed to have used for entertainment. The delicate, tiny metal pieces similar to Monopoly game pieces were outstanding. Seeing the collection didn't give you the feeling they were derelict in their lives.

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